I recently came across an interview with Andy Stanley, Pastor of North Point Church in Atlanta. I love his response to the question, “If you had to give one word to young pastors about communication, what would you tell them?”

His answer: “Show up every Sunday morning with a burden that is so heavy that you feel like you will die if you don’t deliver it. And pray for that. Because if you don’t have that, then you just have information. The people will put up with all kinds of a lack of excellence if there is an intensity and a burden that has to be delivered. And many times I have looked at my notes and thought, “Yeah, this might be helpful, but God, what’s the thing I can’t wait until Sunday morning to deliver? And I honestly can’t wait for Sunday morning. The other thing I always tell pastors, “If you preach from your weaknesses, you will never run out of sermon material.”

I am sometimes asked by people in our congregation, what I do to stay healthy and growing in my relationship with Christ.  I’ve learned that most of us struggle in one way or the other with spiritual disciples, and I am no exception.  Personally, I am a morning person and I like spending time with God when the house is quiet, but that’s just me.

There is no substitute for personal time in God’s Word and in prayer, but in addition to that, there are great resources available to us.  I think we should be ferocious in our approach and ask God to give us a great appetite for the things of the Spirit.  Faith building books, magazine articles, blogs, tweets, and podcasts can all be tools for spiritual growth and learning. 

One of the things that helps me the most is listening to sermons.  As a pastor not only do I like to preach sermons, I like to listen to them as well.  Listening to sermons is one of the ways I feed my soul.  I thought that today I would post a list of pastors that I am currently listening to (in no particular order).  Perhaps you can be blessed by these preachers as well.

• David Platt
• Carter Conlon
• David Wilkerson
• Jim Cymbala
• George Wood
• Tony Evans
• Jentezen Franklin
• Andy Stanley
• TD Jakes
• John Lindell
• John Piper
• Mark Driscoll
• Matt Chandler
• Tim Keller
• Dary Northrop
• Chuck Swindoll
• Alistair Begg

I love being the pastor of this church!  I’m still processing what God did this past weekend.  It was a blessing to serve on a panel for our young adults event as they asked questions about love, dating, marriage, and sex.  In this setting I believe God spoke words of encouragement and direction to several people.  I’m so proud of the young adults at FTC!  God is honoring their committment and faithfulness.  Reni Paunova is doing an outstanding job leading this ministry!

On Saturday we hosted a one-day couples retreat in Malibu.  20 couples joined us for a day of teaching, reconnecting with their spouses, food, and fellowship.  Some of the topics we covered were: God’s power for your marriage, How to get your mate to listen, The five love languages, How to restore romance in your marriage, and How to stay married and not kill anybody!”  In the evening we had a wonderful banquet and Pastors Larry and Jean Chapman were our guest speakers.  They spoke out of nearly 46 years of marriage with honesty and transparency. 

On Sunday Larry and Jean shared in our service the miraculous story of God bringing Larry back from the dead.  It’s truly a modern day miracle.  If you missed it, please listen to the message on our website.  The sermon will be uploaded today.  The highlight of the day was three people giving their lives to Christ in the service!  The church was filled with faith and with people!  We are at 90% capacity in our auditorium.  Pray with us for God’s direction as we move forward to reach more people for Christ.

Did I mention that I love being the pastor of this church?

One of the challenges pastors face is simply getting out of the office.  The list of calls, emails, administrative duties, and meetings sometimes seem endless.  I’ve learned I must be purposeful about evangelism.  I can’t sit back and wait for God to give me “divine appointments.”  That does happen occassionally, but my calling is to reach lost people for Christ.  I’m reminded that Jesus came to “seek” and save those who are lost.

This morning I came across a quote by Jonathan Edwards.  Edwards was a preacher God used mightly in the first Great Awakening in America.  He was also the President of Princeton.  Years ago I visited his grave in New Jersey.  I love this quote by Edwards:

“Preach abroad.  It is the cooping yourselves up in rooms that has dampened the work of God, which never was and never will be carried out to any purpose without going into the highways and hedges and compelling men and women to come in.”

I’m finding that a prayer God always seems to answer is: “Lord, lead me to someone today that I can share Christ with.”  It’s not always easy.  Yes, I do struggle with it.  But I know it’s what God is calling us to do and it’s worth it!

By the way, if you are interested in missions and evangelism, you should check out the free app on the iphone, Droid, and Blackberry called “missionsbox.”

Last Sunday we gave out around 50 bags of groceries to our community as they came to our church in need of help.  In fact, we ran out of prepared bags of food.  This is not uncommon.  The need is great and our capacity to serve is growing too.

We want to minister to the physical needs of our community, as Jesus did, evidenced by the healings and the feeding of the 5,000.  We know God cares for the “whole” person.  We are also concerned about the spiritual needs of our city, which is why we exist as a church.  Every weekend God brings people in all kinds of spiritual conditions to our courtyard.  They come seeking something to meet their physical hunger, but every single person that walks through the gate also has a spiritual hunger that Christ wants to fill.

As I prayed this week about those we serve, I sensed God saying to me, “Overwhelm them with love.”  We want those who come to experience love, friendship, and acceptance from our congregation, like they have never experienced before.  We want them to leave thinking, “I just came for groceries, but I received so much more!

As a pastor I often talk with people who are in the midst of making important decisions in their lives.  While I can share scripture, wisdom, advice, and prayer, I can’t tell them what to do.  I know full well what it’s like to make difficult decision.  My wife and I could tell some stories…we have had our share of decisions to make.

I recently heard a message by Pastor Rod Loy of North Little Rock Assembly.  In the message he shared this grid for making decisions.  As I listened to the message, it was so good I began taking notes for myself.  I thought I share them with you as well.

• Every “good” opportunity is not from God.  Some of them are, but some of them are a distraction from our mission and purpose.
• It is often difficult to know which opportunities are from God.
• Is this something that already God has been putting in my spirit?
• In order to do this will I have to neglect something that I feel is a God-ordained priority?
• Does this in anyway violate my moral compass?
• What do the people who have my best interest at heart say?
• Do I feel the need to “sell” this to the people close to me?  Or do they see the potential?
• How much time have I spent thinking and praying about this before I give an answer?  Often times the worse decisions are the quick decisions.
• Is this a once in a lifetime opportunity?  There really is no such thing.  God brings endless opportunities.
• What positions me to make a bigger difference for the kingdom of God?

It’s been a busy week at Faith Tabernacle Church with around 30 kids attending our annual vacation Bible school.  We praise God for the boys and girls who have invited Jesus into their hearts and lives.   We are grateful for our team of volunteers who have worked so hard to make this week a success.

 I want to invite you to join us this Sunday morning at 10:30AM.  I will be sharing a message titled, “Is Jesus really coming back?”  This is a hot topic of discussion these days and I want us to know what the Bible says about this important subject.  To get the most out of this Sunday’s message, I encourage you to prepare by reading some Bible verses about Christ’s return.  Check out these verses: Matthew chapters 24 and 25; Acts 1:10-11; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1 John 3:2.  A great place to read the Bible online is www.biblegateway.com.

 Upcoming events:

•  Tuesday, August 24^th at 6pm  - 1^st Chi Alpha Campus ministry service at USC
• Sunday, August 29^th at 5pm – Church deacon board meeting
• Sunday, September 5^th at 6pm – First Sunday Service with Pastor Mike Hinojosa
• Monday, September 6^th 10am – 5pm – Annual Church Labor Day picnic at Cheviot Hills Park (Pico & Motor)
• Friday & Saturday, September 10^th and 11^th – Women of Faith Conference in Anaheim
• Thursday – Saturday, September 30th – October 2^nd – Men’s Conference at Lake Arrowhead

I just came across a quote by A.W. Tozer written in 1948, more than 60 years ago.  Sounds to me though, like it could have been written today.

“Every age has its own characteristics. Right now we are in an age of religious complexity. The simplicity which is in Christ is rarely found among us. In its stead are programs, methods, organizations and a world of nervous activities which occupy time and attention but can never satisfy the longing of the heart. The shallowness of our inner experience, the hollowness of our worship, and that servile imitation of the world which marks our promotional methods all testify that we in this day, know God only imperfectly, and the peace of God scarcely at all.”

May the Lord bring us back to the simplicity of the gospel and the sufficiency of Christ.  Satan will provide every distraction to keep our focus away from Christ.  The most common distraction today seems to be busyness.  Perhaps today is a good day to ask the Lord what we should eliminate from our lives in order to focus more on what he wants to do in and through us.